Forest Operations > Overview of Forest Industry in Australia

Overview of the Forest Industry in Australia

Introduction


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Australian forests are amongst the worlds sixth largest forests with just over 147 million hectares of native forest and around 1.82 million hectares of plantations which is approximately 4% of the global forest estate. 

It also has the fourth-largest area of forest in nature conservation reserves.


Click here to download the video to watch offline.

Click here to download the video to watch offline.

Advantages of growing plantation forests

Plantations are grown for many reasons ranging from rehabilitation of the land, improvement of water quality, to meeting other environmental and economic objectives. 

They also provide a log resource used to make timber products that are both economically viable and environmentally sustainable.

The forestry and forest products industry plantations in Australia produce two-thirds of the nation’s log supply.

$19 billion per year is generated and the industry employs an estimated 120 000 people across all of its sectors.

We use on average, about one cubic metre of timber product a year most; of it comes from Australian plantations.

Australian Plantation Area

Around 21% of the nation’s total plantation forest estate is grown in Victoria and Western Australia. New South Wales has 19%, followed by Tasmania with 14% and Queensland with 13%.

Table 1: Total area of plantation forest by state and territory (hectares)

Plantations ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas Vic WA Australia
Hardwood (mostly eucalypts) 0 70616 23689 49446 54974 199068 190986 294714 883494
Softwood (mostly pines) 9500 285702 2239 188751 122871 75005 219426 106662 1010155
Total* 9500 359139 25928 240305 178301 274173 411876 403681 1902903
* Includes mixed hardwood and softwoods and plantations for which species were not reported

Australian State Governments owned the majority of plantations up until the 1990s.

Over the years this has gradually changed with large sections of plantations being sold and established by the private sector.

70% of the total forest in Australia is privately managed, including on private freehold, leasehold and Indigenous-managed lands.

For more information on Australian Forest Plantation visit the websites listed below:

Forest Types

 

1a Radiata Pine
1b Blue Gums
1c Native hard wood
Fig 1a Radiata Pine
Fig 1b Blue Gums
Fig 1c Native Hard Wood

 

 

Plantation forestry growers commonly use a number of Softwood species due to their ability to grow well in a broad range of sites. 

The wood they produce is suitable for many purposes and Radiata Pine is the main softwood plantation species in Australia.

Maritime Pine is also planted widely in southern Western Australia. Caribbean Pine and Slash Pine are planted in tropical and sub-tropical regions.

The only Australian native pine planted for wood production in Australia is Hoop Pine. It also grows naturally in rainforests.

Pine timber grows fast, is easy to work with and is cheaper than most hardwood timbers. 

House structures and a wide range of household furniture are manufactured from Australian plantation pine.

Fig 2 Soft wood house structure

Fig 2 Soft wood house structure

Eucalyptus species make up more than 90% of the hardwood plantations grown in Australia, particularly Tasmanian Blue Gum, which are almost two-thirds of the total.

A number of other commonly planted Eucalypts are:

Also closely related to the Eucalypt species and grown in Australia is the Corymbia species:

Plantation Management

There are many similarities between forest plantations, and agricultural crop management.

As with agriculture, forestry chooses a species depending on the required product and site suitability.

Sites are then prepared mostly by mechanical means and crops are established and tended to with the aim for efficient production.

When trees are small pesticides that were first used in the agricultural industry are used to reduce weeds and fertilisers are sometimes applied to enhance tree growth.

Growing, tending to and harvesting a single crop of trees is referred to as a rotation.

 

Hardwoods Region Main species Main products
Tropical – high rainfall Mangium  
Sub-tropical –medium rainfall Flooded Gum, Dunns White Gum, Gympie Messmate Paper products
Temperate –medium-to-high rainfall Blue Gum, Shining Gum  
Tropical – high rainfall African Mahogany, Teak, some native species Sawn timber for furniture, flooring and other high-value uses
Several regions Various Eucalypts Sawn timber for building and furniture
Softwoods Temperate – medium rainfall Radiata Pine Sawn timber for building, joinery, furniture, plywood, other high-value uses, posts and poles. Residues are used for paper, particleboard and other panels
Tropical, sub tropical – medium rainfall Caribbean Pine, Slash Pine and Hybrids
Temperate – low-to-medium rainfall Maritime Pine
Tropical, sub-tropical – high rainfall Hoop Pine

Chart 2 Softwood plantations in Australia are mainly managed for production of sawlogs.

They are a grown in a rotation of 30 years or more (50 years for hoop pine).

At specified times, thinning operations are undertaken to remove the smallest and most poorly formed trees, leaving the best trees to grow as sawlog.

Pruning is undertaken when a tree is between 4-6 years of age by removing lower branches: this helps the lower part of tree to produce good clear wood improving sawlog quality. 

Once the trees are harvested the logs are processed in sawmills and a wide range of products made and used throughout Australia.

The produce from thinnings is used in things such as fence posts and poles. The residue or poorer quality trees are chipped and used to make fibreboard, particleboard and paper products.

DSCF2957

Fig 3 Chip truck being loaded by chipper

Eucalyptus and Tasmanian Blue gum hardwood plantations are mainly managed for production of pulpwood to make suitable paper for printing and writing materials.

The pulpwood from some softwood is in general used for packaging and other lower-quality papers.

Plantations of Eucalypt and Acacia pulpwood can be grown in rotations as short as 10 years.

A small percentage of hardwood plantations are managed over rotations of 20 years or more for production of products including high quality furniture, polished flooring.  

As the supply from the native forest is diminishing, the interest in growing hardwood sawlogs in plantations is increasing.


Video 1 - TigerCat 2009 product video

Other Uses

The production and supply of timber waste products for electricity and ethanol. 

Coal used for electricity generation is already being replaced by some of the plantation timber residues. 

Fuel pellet production and generating energy projects are being developed from plantation biomass.